Chicks That Kick Ass

First of all, a word about nomenclature. I have feminist friends that would kick MY ass for using the word “chick”, and I also have feminist friends who take pride in the fact that they have reclaimed their strength, identity, and language enough that they use the word themselves. Apologies if the word bothers you. Oh well. I say “dude” a lot too. The fact is, I had six sisters, and grew up in a community that’s so progressive that I really didn’t understand how un-evolved our culture really is until I was in my late teens. Since then, I’m perpetually perplexed at the modern world’s seeming inability to recognize the greatness of women, and instead often hold up the absurd foibles of men as symbols of greatness.

This really hit home for me recently as I was rounding up information on inspirational figures in history and the present day, in order to create a series of video clips like this one. It seemed that every time I went to do some research, it was men, men, men. This was equally true when I asked both male and female friends for suggestions; unless I specifically asked for names of women as inspirational figures, the lists were always skewed to about 80% male. So I asked a bunch of friends on Facebook for suggestions. The result was the list below, which has been an inspiring learning journey in itself. Most of the names link to Wikipedia; I tried to keep the descriptions useful but minimal.

One of my few heroes – male OR female – is Julia Butterfly Hill. She turned the experience of a near-fatal auto accident into a catalyst for personal change, pursued her passion for environmentalism, and eventually ended up keeping multi-million dollar logging company interests at bay BY HERSELF. She had supporters of course, but it was Hill’s physical presence – living on two six-by-six-foot platforms for 738 days at the top of a Redwood named “Luna” – that not only accomplished the goal of protecting all the redwoods in a 200 foot radius, but forced the logging company to donate funds to Humboldt State University as part of an agreement for research into sustainable forestry.

I would have never ended up with this list without the suggestions of a few friends. A special thanks to Jean Henry, Kimberley Brown, Molly Mason, Michael Brown, Johnnie Chamberlin-Brooks, Sara Feldman, Jenny Parker, Jeanne Adwani, Jackie Byars, Franky Bennett III, Hava Gurevich, Elena Shepard, Jeff Mason, and William Blaak for the helpful suggestions!